Chapter I: Four Children

Chester was eating breakfast, a slice from a loaf of bread and some steamed ham that his uncle and aunt had made for him. He was eleven years of age, and that morning was the time that many children that turned eleven would go and drink the nectar to see if they were going to summon a spirit animal. It was also known as the "Nectar Ceremony." Chester had felt perturbed ever since he turned eleven about three months ago.

"Chester! Today is the day you will finally drink the Nectar!" His aunt Hidel said, her golden eyes glimmering with hope. Chester looked out the window, gazing into the rising sun.

"Yeah… how fun…" He wasn't all too enthusiastic about getting a spirit animal. His entire lineage had never once summoned a spirit animal before. He forced himself to lower his expectations, so if the time came that he didn't get one, it wouldn't be so surprising. Maybe deep inside, he had a small light of hope that he would summon a spirit animal.

"Chester, don't say such things like that." His uncle Francis walked up to the boy and patted his shoulder, smiling brightly. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, you should enjoy it while you still can."

Chester managed to get a faint smile on his face. He could see how that would make sense. He then even began to wonder how the nectar would taste like, it almost made him excited… Almost. The family continued to have breakfast and in a few minutes, they had finished and were ready to go

"This is it Chester, this is your chance." Aunt Hidel said, looking down to Chester. "You have grown so much."

"Yeah!" Uncle Francis said with excitement. "Just know that even if you don't summon a spirit animal, I… no, we, will always be proud of you."

Chester nodded slowly, fixing his cotton jacket and putting his hood over his head, not to reveal that he indeed had not smiled back. He also quickly adjusted his backpack. He wanted to bring one, just in case (in the slightest of possibilities) he did summon a spirit animal. The family of three walked slowly through the streets of Dasre, navigating through alleys and walkways. After that, they had arrived in the town square where a crowd of people formed in front of a stage. Infront stood the local greencloak and there were three others seated behind. There were also three other children seated to the right and a chair that was obviously saved for him.

Oh no, we're late!

Chester shot a glance back up to his guardians. They smiled back, Uncle Francis putting his hand on the boy's head.

"It's fine, you can go. We'll be right here." Chester nodded and began walking towards the stage. He looked back at his uncle and aunt. They waved and had big smiles on their faces. Chester put his hand on his chest as he navigated the crowd of people.

Chester approached the short stairs and walked up them, sitting down on the closest seat. The seat was right next to a girl with dark black hair and bright yellow eyes. She seemed familiar to him for some reason.

Oh, I remember. She's the daughter of the baker across the road. What was her name again?

Chester's thought process broke as the greencloak standing on the stage whistled loudly, silencing and catching the attention of the crowd. The greencloak walked closer, almost stepping off the stage. They cleared their throat and spoke clearly.

"Hear all, people of Dasrey! Today we are here to do one of the most important things in the whole of Erdas, at the sight of human and animal. A bond between those two makes both stronger, and today we will find out if such a special bond will start its existence by one of these four children: Lady Lenna Ortes, Tillion, son of Will, Noelle, daughter of Donn, and Chester, son of Avion." The greencloak's voice identified to be female. Everyone cheered at Lenna's name and silenced on everyone else's names.

Lenna is the daughter of the town mayor. This means she is rich, filthy rich. Even so, she is considered by many to be this generation's ultimate genius. Smart, Beautiful, any boy would kill to date her, and any and all girls looked up to her. But the riches and the attention had come at a cost. She grew arrogant, and she looked down on everyone else, thinking that nobody else could be better than her. Her family had insisted bringing animals to heighten her chance of bringing a spirit animal, but she retorted, "I don't need luck on my side to get a spirit animal."

"Lenna Ortes, come forward." Lenna stood up, smiling confidently and arrogantly, as if she knew she was already going to get a spirit animal. Her beautiful long, blonde hair flowing as she walked forward. Chester could see many people entranced just by her looks alone. Lenna smiled a shy yet mystical smile, it looked quite genuine. Chester sighed, looking at Lenna from under his hood.

She's quite good at that. At putting up a fake act.

In reality, Chester knew that Lenna was not giving a genuine smile. She probably couldn't care less about the audience being there. The greencloak held the flask, stepping closer to Lenna. The flask was pure golden tinge in color. It seemed to represent something, or someone.

"Receive the Nectar of Ninani." Lenna began to drink the Nectar. The greencloak pulled away after a second. It was only a sip, but a sip was all they needed. At first nothing happened, but then, a blinding light struck the center of the stage. Chester blocked the light with his hand, forcing himself to look away. Everyone else did too. He blinked multiple times, his eyes adjusting to the sudden disappearance of the light. And there in front of Lenna stood a fox with bright amber fur. Chester's eyes widened. In disbelief? No. In anger? Not even. In surprise? Not even that. It was more like a punch to the stomach, and a quick way of getting back to the reality. That he, was just… ordinary… even below average.

The crowd cheered, applauded, and yelled. The mayor's daughter had summoned a spirit animal! And not only that, but a red fox! The fox approached Lenna slowly, the entire height of it's body (not standing on her hind legs) was about up to Lenna's waist. It was larger than any regular fox, mostly because It was a spirit animal. Lenna crouched down, and the fox ran up to her, nuzzling her leg. She smiled. She then looked back at Chester, smiling too. But that smile was different. There were no words needed to express the arrogant and confident smile,

I'm better than you,

Was written all over her face, and the smile had only accentuated that. The greencloak nodded and gestured Lenna to sit back down. Lenna did just that, sitting down with her new spirit animal.

"Freya." Lenna said to the fox. Apparently she already knew that it was a girl. The fox made a sound that sounded like a growl and a bit like a purr at the same time. It was some confirmation that Freya accepted the name.

"Thank you Lenna," the greencloak said "Tillion, son of Donn, please come forward." The boy stood up, Chester immediately drawn to his unnatural yet natural gray hair. Just like Lenna, Tillion took a sip of the nectar, and in the same fashion, a light appeared in a small second, Chester blocking his face once again. When the light disappeared, it seemed that nothing had happened. It seemed like no spirit animal had appeared. The crowd kept silent but a few began to murmur, Tillion though looked unfazed at was happening, as if he predicted that he wasn't going to summon any.

"Look!" A man at the corner of the crowd shouted, pointing at Tillion's left shoulder. Everyone looked at his shoulder, and gasped at what they saw. It was a chameleon! The boy had summoned a chameleon! Even the somewhat quiet Tillion was shocked at the sudden appearance of the chameleon on his shoulder. Tillion looked at the chameleon on his shoulder and touched the animal's head. It felt rough.

"Luxi." Tillion simply said. The chameleon flashed many colors slowly before coming on a bright yellow. Luxi seemed to like the name given. Tillion sat back down on his chair.

"Thank you Tillion," the greencloak said once again. "Noelle, please come forward." Noelle stood up. It was obvious that she was scared, actually no, anxious. Her efforts of trying to hide her expression by covering her face with her scarf were for naught. Chester knew that everybody could see that she was scared. Was that why she was so scared? Or was it simply anticipation of the Nectar? Anticipation for summoning a spirit animal? Chester was scared too, but he didn't want to show it, through his body language nor his facial expression. He knew that if he showed off weakness, Lenna wouldn't not take it and use it against his already low self-esteem. Noelle glanced back at Chester for a small second. Was she trying to tell him something? He couldn't quite guess since she turned around as quickly as she glanced.

Chester could see that Noelle's body was shaking. Nobody else could probably see, but he was an observant boy. Noelle walked up to the greencloak, drinking a small sip of the Nectar. Immediately Chester realized that Noelle's entire body had stopped shaking. Was the Nectar calming her down? The most likely answer was; Yes. As quickly as she drank it, another light pierced the stage, blinding everyone for a third time. Chester's eyes widened once more, and the crowd was even more surprised than the last two times.

A humming bird was flapping it's wings quickly in front of Noelle. Noelle had summoned a humming bird. Chester was definitely surprised, sure, but it wasn't about the humming bird. He was surprised that a third child in a row had managed to summon a spirit animal, on the same day! It was unprecedented! Chester had heard rumors that children had a 1/100 or even 1/1000 chance to summon a spirit animal. But to have it down three times, in a row!? The greencloaks were surprised too, like even they didn't expect such chances. Chester glanced back at Tillion and Lenna. Tillion seemed to be minding his own business, as if he didn't even watch the summoning. But Lenna though. Her face turned more pale than a ghost on Halloween night. Chester snickered under his breath. She didn't seem so special now, did she?

"Why hello there… Um…" Noelle racked her brain of any name that she could think of. It was obvious that she wasn't good with names. "Uh… How about, Min?" The humming bird chirped slowly as it rested atop Noelle's head. She sat down.

"Umm… Uh, thank you Noelle." The greencloak stuttered a bit, failing to contain her excitement and emotions. "Uh… last but not least, Chester, please come forward." And then it hit him. It was his turn. Suddenly, Chester's heart started to pound loudly in his chest. All noise was suddenly blocked and it seemed that the entire world went white, only him, the stage, and the flask being held by the greencloak. His breathing became heavy as he darted his eyes from left to right, trying to find something, anything for his eyes to fixate on. Then, the world came back to him. He stood up, watching as the crowd eyed him. He looked back at Lenna one more time. This time, her smile was even more devilish and confident than before. Did she watch Chester? Dammit, he showed weakness. He ignored the girl, even if it would be for only a minute.

Chester approached the flask slowly. He was scared. Even though his destiny, starting from the moment the nectar entered his mouth, was not in his control, he felt as if, if he didn't summon a spirit animal, his family would be disappointed in him. Even so, he felt a tiny shred of hope. Three people had summoned a spirit animal in a row. Surely a fourth would happen to him too right? But, among all that hope another tiny spot of dread was fast approaching. A fourth in a row would be highly unlikely. The greencloak pressed the flask onto Chester's lips and he began to drink the golden syrup. It was only for a second but he was able to taste the syrup so vividly. It tasted like melted cheese mixed with honey. It also had a slight citrus taste, like grinded oranges were added to the mixture. As the greencloak pulled away, a light appeared instantly after that. It startled Chester and forced himself back, shielding his eyes. As the light disappeared, he blinked multiple times.

His eyes widened in disbelief. Just before him, there was a weasel at knee height with silky brown fur staring up at him. He couldn't believe it. He had summoned a spirit animal. He wanted to shout with joy, but he was stuck in place, the weasel staring back up at him.

"Ray." Chester whispered. The weasel ran quickly towards him, climbing up his body and going atop his shoulder. Ray made a low sound that sounded like approval. Chester looked back at the other three, Tillion and Noelle both surprised, and smiling gently too. Lenna had a frown on her face. He would definitely hear from her from today forth.

"Um…" The greencloak cleared her throat once again, almost fidgeting in hey spot. The excitement that she tried to contain was clearly visible. "There you have it folks!" She said, her green cloak fluttering about in the wind. She looked like a protagonist. The crowd all began to applaud, and then they began to cheer. It was a moment that would be remembered in the history books. The four had got their spirit animals, and it was time to venture out into the unknown, where danger lay ahead…